As a lever type connector which is so adapted as to be engaged with a mating connector by rotating a lever, there has been conventionally proposed the lever type connector as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. JP-A-2003-272755. This lever type connector has such a structure that by rotating the lever, the mating connector is introduced from a temporarily engaged position to a normally engaged position in a connector housing. In this manner, an engaging work can be easily performed, and reliability of the engaging work can be enhanced.
FIG. 9 is a view showing the structure of the lever type connector disclosed in JP-A-2003-272755. As shown in FIG. 9, the lever type connector 100 is substantially composed of a male connector 120 which can be engaged with and disengaged from a female connector (not shown), a lever 130 which is rotatably mounted on the male connector 120, and a wire cover 140 which has a substantially dome-like shape and guides out wires to the exterior.
The male connector 120 includes a connector housing 122 provided with a plurality of terminal containing rooms 121 for containing terminals (not shown) at terminal ends of the wires, and a rotation axis pin 123 for rotatably mounting the lever 130 on the connector housing 122.
The lever 130 is composed of a pair of arm parts 131, and a connecting part 138 for interconnecting these arm parts 131. The arm parts 131 is provided with a rotation axis hole 132 into which the rotation axis pin 123 of the connector housing 122 is inserted, a cam groove 133 for varying a distance from the rotation axis hole 132 along a circumferential direction of the arm parts 131, and an operating part 134 for operating the lever 130 to rotate. The operating part 134 has a locking part 135 for locking the lever 130 which has been rotated.
The wire cover 140 is composed of a cover body 141 which contains the wires which have been guided out from the connector housing 122 toward the wire cover 140, and guides out the wires to the exterior as a bundle of the wires, and a lock arm 142 which is provided on a top of the wire cover 140 in the substantially dome-like shape.
Then, an engaging work of the lever type connector 100 having the above described structure will be described. As a first step, the rotation axis pin 123 of the connector housing 122 is passed through the rotation axis hole 132 of the lever 130, thereby to mount the lever 130 on the connector housing 122 so as to rotate.
Thereafter, the terminals (not shown) at the terminal ends of the wires are inserted into the terminal containing rooms 121, and the wire cover 140 is assembled in a manner of covering the terminal containing rooms 121 of the connector housing 122. Then, the female connector (not shown) is inserted into the connector housing 122 of the male connector 120. A cam pin (not shown) of the female connector which has been inserted into the connector housing 122 is engaged with the cam groove 133 of the lever 130, thereby to set the female connector in a temporarily engaged position with respect to the connector housing 122.
Then, the lever 130 is rotated, and with this rotation of the lever 130, the cam pin (not shown) is pressed with a pressure from the cam groove 133 thereby to gradually shift the terminals of the female connector (not shown) to the normally engaged position in the connector housing 122.
When the lever 130 has arrived at a determined rotary position, the locking part 135 overrides the lock arm 142 which is provided on the lock cover 140, to be engaged with the lock arm 142. In this manner, the female connector (not shown) is engaged with the connector housing 122 in the normally engaged position.
Patent Document JP-A-2003-272755 is discussed above.